CHAMOIS

[Heb., zeʹmer].

A small goatlike antelope characterized by its hook-tipped horns and noted for its agility and surefootedness at dizzying heights. The grown male may measure thirty-two inches (.8 meter) at the shoulder, and may weigh about sixty-five pounds (29.5 kilograms). The summer coat of the chamois is a tawny color that gets darker with the advent of the winter season. The chamois is listed among the animals suitable for food according to the requirements of the Law.—Deut. 14:5.

There is uncertainty as to the animal meant by the Hebrew word zeʹmer, variously rendered “chamois” (AV, AS, ER, NW, Yg), “mountain goat” (La), “mountain sheep” (AT, JB, Mo, Ro), “antelope” (Le), and simply transliterated as “zemer.” (Kx) The Hebrew root from which the word zeʹmer is thought to be derived suggests a bouncing, leaping animal, hence likely a kind of gazelle. Authorities who maintain that the chamois was never found in Palestine consider the rendering of zeʹmer as “chamois” to be in error. However, it may be noted that local varieties of this animal are to be found in the Carpathian and Caucasian Mountains, thus allowing for the possibility that at one time a variety of the chamois may have existed in the ranges of Lebanon.